Comment by kqr

> Considering the war in the womb it's amazing that the reproductive system works as well as it does.

...or maybe it's because of that war it works as well as it does? Maybe it takes agents in opposition to evolve enough redundancies and contingency plans to get things working?

Before Mendel, at least some people hypothesised there must be some sort of "battle of the germ cell" that powered evolution, because unimportant functions -- even when they aren't actively detrimental -- tend to be forced nearly out of existence.[1] Even our bodies, miracles of cooperation, evolve to some degree under antagonism.

Thanks for referencing that article, though. I was going to but now I don't have to. Everyone should read it. Utterly fascinating.

[1]: The example that comes to mind are the femurs of whales. They are absolutely tiny. Much smaller than can reasonably explained by them being a problem for the whale itself.